Twenty-five years after the end of the Great Dragon war saw Equestria battling the Draconic Alliance for pony survival against a deranged elder dragon. Now only three separate elder dragon run city-states are all that remain of the once powerful alliance. Yet even after so long there are wounds that run deep that could threaten that peace in more ways then one.

MagusZeal wrote:Silvershine“Oh my little pony, every pony has their skills, though I’m more impressed that you managed to sneak past the rather dour door guard.” Even given the situation there was a bit of mirth to the Princess voice. “He’s rather eagle eyed, or you’ve a silver tongue.”

"Don't worry about your guard's eyesight, highness, I've been sitting out here since before you arrived. Ol' Eagle Eyes spotted me right away, and he's still holding on to my stuff."

MagusZeal wrote:“That said, Miss Silvershine.”

Nodding quickly the mare points towards Lucky, “Okay first things first, Lucky, check into the local hotels and see who’s got an opening.”

Lucky gave Silver another salute. "Aye, aye, Captain Shiny! Meet you back here in ten minutes!" With that, she flew out the door.

Motioning towards the Daffodil, then towards the sheriff’s office Mustang canters to catchup to Longshot, quickly matching the other stallion’s trot. “Normally I’d say it could wait, but I’ve got an itch since this afternoon, and doubt we’ll have much time to talk.” Glancing about Mustang lowers his voice, “Princess’ are looking for a few ponies to out themselves. Given your lack of family and the fact mines pretty much a shambles I suggested we do it. Not sure if you hear the radio coverage but Celestia finally confirmed the mission happened. The hope is if a few of us out ourselves the others will be left alone.”

Longshot nodded, looking thoughtful. "I did hear, but what exactly are you asking for? You want me to get up on stage and say 'I am Iron Mare'?" After a moment of silence, Longshot turned to look at Magus. "What? I watch movies sometimes. I can make refercences. My point is... if you're asking me to make myself a target, I can handle that. But that's gonna require more pomp and circumstance than just a press release with a list of names, isn't it?"

After an afternoon of nearly fruitless searching for her sister Renew finally took a few leads as to the whereabouts of Breaker and decided to get back up. Not that her husband wasn't a good pony to have help, she just knew that Breaker was better suited to the job. She burst into the sheriffs station, ignoring what was going on. "Breaker, now" she said, uncharacteristically pulling him off to the side. "I've received communication that my sister has escaped. I haven't personally seen her, but I've got a note in her hoofwriting and it seems convincing. What's worse is that I found out that a pony of her description was headed for the train station. I haven't heard of anything that she's done yet, but it's only a matter of time if she's out there."

Almost as if on cue an alicorn flew through the door. "There's been a train accident between here and Ponyville. I was sent here to see if there were anymore able bodied ponies that could help, it's a bad wreck, reports are coming that we're not sure if there are any survivors. We'll need medics and anypony that can be spared to go through the wreckage." Prism said, frazzled. She'd been with Frosty looking around for whatever was causing the disruptions when the first report of the accident had happened and both winged ponies had been sent out.

Nodding Mustang’s eyes shift around his head following the movement, years of caution still feeding into the stallion’s actions. “Pomp and circumstance will be all over us. Field uniforms, speeches and likely a few other things. That is unless we do something stupid and or crazy?” The stallion had an idea, he always had ideas these days. Not wanting to be on the receiving end of some pony else’s plan saw to that these days.

SilvershineAppleoosa – Sheriff office

Once Prism came in the room froze for a few moments, some turned toward Breaker, others to the Princess and Twilight. Silver though turned to Blondie to see the mare’s reaction. Behind her she could hear her uncle, “Silver you have the Shrieking Daffodil, I’m leaving while your dad’s staying put. Princess, Grandmaster, follow me.” The sound of hooves on wood echo as she catches Breaker speaking up as well. “Renew, with me.”

BreakerAppleoosa - Front porch of Sherrif's office

"How long ago did this happen Renew?" Motioning towards the Daffodil he makes the signal that Silvershine is was in charge. Behind him the Princess and Grandmaster were speaking in hushed tones while more then a few of the Royal Guard were falling into step with them.

It was nice that the cell door was finally open, the stuffy cell had a better draft going through. But even though she was free to go, the mafia boss knew better than to just prance out until Silvershine was done rummaging through her belongings. Blondie frowned though, since she spotted one of the knives that was sewn into a sleeve clatter to the ground by accident.

And, not really surprising Blondie, an alicorn stormed right into the office and started spouting stuff about a train accident. The mafia boss wasn't really listening, but she knew that it was the train that Mole spotted the psychopath unicorn stepping into. Her only thought was that she was glad that they were going home by airship, it meant less stops.

Out of the corner of her eye, the mare was keenly aware that Silvershine had her attention on her in light of this new information. And of course, the mare was careful in keeping her expression looking rather curious and shift it slowly to disinterest. Then proceeded to pretend to just notice Silvershine looking at her, and just smiled before turning her attention to Kroll.

Kroll remained firmly planted in front of Bronze Scales' cell, keeping his attention focused on the mare even amidst the commotion going on behind him. He heard the word "train" get tossed around a few times, but the mercenary saw no reason to pay any mind to the conversation.

Upon hearing the mare's question, the tercel's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he firmed the grip he had on his rifle."Tolerable." he replied flatly, putting no effort in trying to stem the disdain his tone carried. Kroll had no idea what interest Bronze could have in talking to him, but he doubted it would lead to anything worth his while.

Longshot gave his companion a skeptical look, clearly he had something in mind with that comment, but Longshot had something else on his mind. "I'll be taking credit for the kill shot, I imagine. That'd draw most of the attention of any dragon seeking revenge," he said, not sounding pleased by the idea. Of course, drawing that attention was the point, and he could take that kind of heat and pressure. Diamond was one of his closest spirit allies for a reason. But he knew rather well just how much effort went into that plan, and how many lives were spent in making it work, diminishing the role of all the other ponies involved didn't quite sit right with him... He couldn't find a way to express that though, it wasn't a practical concern. The history books ment little in the face of the needs of the now. So he just walked, lost in thought in the subject.

Renew nodded and followed Breaker, the normally calm doctor still visibly shaken up. "I got a note from her right after lunch around the main speech this afternoon. She'd talked to Sugar and given her the note. I didn't let anyone but Elegant know right away because I didn't want to jump to conclusions right away when I wasn't certain that she was in the area, for all I knew she could have sent the note to someone else through Sugar, she's never seen her aunt before." she sat down "And knowing that she was probably on that train makes me feel terrible for not raising an alarm earlier."

Possible civilian death and an upset mom weren't appealing things to Iris, but getting out of finding things to do with her little sister and working instead was admittedly slightly attractive to the mare. "Mom, it's not your fault, you've told me plenty of times that if Aunt Aether wants to do something she's going to do it. With the distraction" she looked at Blondie "concerning a missing element the PSA likely wouldn't have gotten to her in time, if it even was her, it could have been an accident, we don't know that it wasn't. Breaker, since it seems that this trip is going to be all work and no play where do you want me at. Cleaning up family problems or retrieving the element?"

Nodding the stallion slows the monument coming into site. “Yeah you’d take that, I’d take some as a major distraction. The idea would be to just have the two of us going to a bar frequented by a few vets, and maybe a couple of news ponies and then we just loudly reminisce while getting drunk. From there it’ll be a race to confirm and get the story out the next day and with a bit of planning they can get that confirmation and we never see a dress uniform.”

Balthier BreakerAppleoosa – Street outside Sheriff’s office

Cutting through the crowded street’s at a trot it wasn’t hard to keep up the pace as ponies moved out of the way for the royal guard’s surrounding them. “So we’ve got a note and if it is from her she knows the family and our kids… all of them.” Suppressing a shudder Breaker keeps his pace, “Iris, I want you with Silver for now. The sooner she’s done with Blondie the better off we’ll be.” Turning to Renew the stallion tried his best to make her feel better. “No confirmation it is her. Might be some pony wanting to emulate her, we’ve seen a few folks trying to do that since the war.”

"I don't actually drink," Longshot pointed out as he slowed. "I suppose I can act it for awhile if that's the plan, though. It's still not public knowledge where I come from is it? Will that be an issue?" The unicorn stopped well short of the statue, not wanting this conversation to be part of this time for reflection.

Lucky soared above the streets of Appleoosa, allowing herself to do a quick loop-the-loop every once in a while. She hadn't felt this happy in ages. Everything was going right for her. She'd been out of jail for a few days, and wasn't worried about getting put back. She had a friend, and some new acquaintances who would hopefully be friends.

Even more, they'd actually trusted Lucky to do a job. A small errand, yes, but she was helping. And helping the Princesses and Bearers of the Elements, even!

She was so caught up in her good mood that it took her a few moments to notice the lack of royal guards as she flew into the sheriff's office.

"Alight, I managed to find 3 hotels that still have empty suites. Not the fanciest hotels in town, but - Hey, where did everypony go?" She stopped talking as she took in the new scene. The Princess and Twilight were gone, along with most of their entourage. Blondie was out, Kroll was looking even grumpier, and Silvershine was poking the pile of knives and cloth that must belong to Blondie.

"Wow, my timing is the worst lately," Lucky said. "So, what did I miss this time?"

Shoving the pile towards Blondie the yellow mare steps away. “Not really sure beyond there’s been a train accident near Ponyville. Not sure how bad it is yet and something from before the war though I’m not sure what that was all about.” Shrugging at the last she turns towards Lucky, “What hotels have openings?”

Stopping a bit further back then Longshot the stallion just nods towards the statue. “It can wait till your done.” Those that had known since the war long since had stopped questioning his oddities around war monuments.

"A train wreak?" On hearing the news, Lucky's eyes widened and her wings drooped. "Ooh, I hope everypony is okay." She pawed at the floor for a few seconds before remembering why she was here.

"Oh, right, the hotels!" She put the tip of her wing into a small pocket on the outside of her saddlebag, and pulled out three business cards. "Now, I know these aren't the fanciest, but I've stayed at all of 'em, and I can promise they're good, clean establishments.

"There were a couple of rooms at the Draft Pick, and that place has its own saloon downstairs. Might be a bit rowdy, though. Then there's the Apple Barrel, no restaurant, but they do have big suites and the owner sells homemade apple pastries and cider. Also, it's shaped like a giant barrel, so that's fun! And my personal favorite, the Unquiet Princess. Rooms are a decent size, if a little over-decorated, and the dining room serves all sorts of food. They've usually got some sort of music act, too. The bar gets a bit noisy at night, but the suites are on the fourth floor, so it should be pretty quiet up there."

She set the cards on the bench near the window, and looked up at the group. "Well, Captain Polish, Admiral Sourbeak, Lady Justice, take your pick."

"Unquiet Princess is fine enough for me" said Iris "Food that isn't just apples available is a good thing, but I don't want us getting to sidetracked with the bar scene. I'd like to get this element recovered as soon as possible, if my Aunt's out we might end up needing it." the mare added, thankful for her long practice of keeping her emotions in check. Outside she remained as cool and professional as always, and inside she still managed to keep herself somewhat deadened to the nerves that were starting to bubble up inside of her. Loosing an element was bad, but loosing an element when her psychotic aunt was on the loose? Who knows what could happen.

Turning towards the returning PSA mare Silver wasn’t sure if she should be more concerned or relieved she’d changed her mind to help with Blondie. “Iris when, I thought you couldn’t come with us?” Trying not to think too much the mare shakes her head turning to Blondie. “Unquiet Princes work for you?”

Blondie didn't even look up from counting her knives to make sure all was accounted for. "Well, anywhere's fine by me. Just so long as I don't have to sleep in a cot once again."

After being sure all the knives were back in her bag, including the ones sewn into her dress, she began gently folding the article of clothing to put away. "Now Lucky, would I be correct if I said that the Unquiet Princess is a bit of a walk from here? I'm sure it would help us work up an appetite."

She placed the dress and her hat into her little bag, now looking a little lumpy. "Now by Aunt, I'm assuming you mean Aether correct?"

"Your uncle sent me along. Said I'd be better off with you" Iris said towards Silver. "Family time tends to get murky when you have a psychopath in the family." The mare looked back over at Blondie. "I'll let you piece that together yourself."

Lucky offered Iris sad look. "Sorry to hear that, 'Rissy." She tried to find something more comforting to say, but came up blank. Family was always a tricky subject.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Lucky cleared her throat and put on a smile. "So, uh, yeah, the Unquiet Princess is a little bit out from the center of town. It's not too far of a walk, but the streets are still pretty crowded, so I'm not sure how long it'll take us to get there." She checked that the pockets on her saddlebag were secured and moved to stand near the door. "I'm ready to go when everypony else is."

Opening her mouth to speak Silver instead shakes her head. Iris had just spoken enough to make her more concerned, but there’d be time to learn more later after they got the element back. “Less anypony has an objection let’s get going.”